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Roger McGough
Roger Joseph McGough CBE (born 9 November 1937) is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly. He is a Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University and is a Vice President of the Poetry Society.The Poetry Society - accessed 24 July 2009 Life McGough was born in Litherland, Liverpool.McGough reads 3 poems (audio) He was a pupil at St Mary's College in Crosby, Merseyside, before going on to study French and Geography at the University of HullEmma Brockes interview: Roger McGough The Guardian 14 November 2005 at a time when Philip Larkin was the librarian there.[http://www.hull.ac.uk/arc/collection/philiplarkin/biog.html Philip Larkin biography, The University of Hull] Returning to Merseyside in the early 1960s, McGough worked as a French teacher and, with John Gorman, organised arts events. After meeting Mike McGear the trio formed The Scaffold, working the Edinburgh Festival until they signed to Parlophone records in 1966. The group scored several hit records, reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1968 with their version of "Lily The Pink". McGough wrote the lyrics for many of the group's songs and also recorded the musical comedy/poetry album McGough and McGear. McGough was also responsible for much of the humorous dialogue in The Beatles' animated film, Yellow Submarine, although he did not receive an on-screen credit.The Beatles' Yellow Submarine Turns 30 "Edelmann is given credit for inventing the Blue Meanies to serve that role. In an interview, Edelmann added yet another to those who contributed to the film's script. He said, "There was never one script. We had about 20. Roger McGough was responsible for much of it." McGough was a Liverpool poet who was brought in to add a Liverpool flavor to the soundtrack. He was paid £500 for his work, but was not given screen credit." (Accessed 18 July 2008.) At about the same time a selection of his poems was published, along with work from Adrian Henri and Brian Patten, in a best-selling paperback volume of verse entitled The Mersey Sound, first published in 1967, revised in 1983 and again in 2007.Interview with Roger McGough about republication of Mersey Sound 40 years on On 2 March 1978, McGough appeared in All You Need Is Cash, a mockumentary detailing the career of a Beatles-like group called The Rutles; McGough's introduction takes so long that he is only asked one question ("Did you know the Rutles?" to which McGough cheerfully responds "Oh yes") before the documentary is forced to move along to other events. In 1980 he recited a high-speed one-minute version of Longfellow's poem "The Wreck of the Hesperus", complete with sound effects, on the album "Miniatures" produced by Morgan Fisher.[http://www.morgan-fisher.com/discogpages_e/miniatures.html Miniatures] One of McGough's more unusual compositions was created in 1981, when he co-wrote an "electronic poem" called Now Press Return with the programmer Richard Warner for inclusion with the Welcome Tape of the BBC Micro home computer.BBC Now Press Return incorporated several novel themes, including user-defined elements to the poem, lines which changed their order (and meaning) every few seconds, and text which wrote itself in a spiral around the screen.BBC [pdf] Recognition McGough won a Cholmondeley Award in 1998, and was awarded the CBE in June 2004.CBE for Liverpool poet McGough BBC News 12 June 2004 He holds an honorary MA from Nene College of Further Education; was awarded an honorary degree from Roehampton University in 2006; as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool on 3 July 2006. He was Fellow of Poetry at Loughborough University (1973-5) and Honorary Professor at Thames Valley University (1993). Publications Poetry *''Frink, A Life in the Day of'' & Summer with Monika: Poems. London: Joseph, 1967 **''Summer with Monika''. London: Whizzard Press / Andre Deutsch, 1978. *''The Mersey Sound'' (by Adrian Henri, Roger McGough & Brian Patten). Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1967; Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1968. *''Watchwords''. London: Cape, 1969. *''After The Merrymaking''. London: Cape, 1971. *''Out of Sequence''. London: Turret Books, 1972. *''Gig''. London: Cape, 1973. *''Sporting Relations''. London: Methuen, 1974 **revised & expanded, London & New York: Viking, 1996. *''In the Glassroom''. London: Cape, 1976, *''Holiday on Death Row''. London: Cape, 1979. *''Unlucky for Some''. London: Bernard Stone, 1980. *''Waving at Trains''. London: Cape, 1982. *''Melting into the Foreground''. Harmondsworth, UK, & New York: Viking, 1986. *''Worry''. Leicester, UK: Toni Savage, 1987. *''Selected Poems, 1967-1987''. London: Cape, 1989. *''Blazing Fruit: Selected poems, 1967-1987''. London: Penguin, 1990. *''You at the Back: Selected poems, 1967-87''. London: Cape, 1991. *''Defying Gravity''. London: Viking, 1992. *''Pen Pals: A new poem''. Alton, UK: Prospero Poets, 1994. *''Penguin Modern Poets 4'' (by Liz Lochhead, Roger McGough, & Sharon Olds). London & New York: Penguin, 1995 *''Ferens, the Gallery Cat''. Kingston upon Hull, UK: Ferens Art Gallery, 1997. *''The Way Things Are''. London & New York: Viking, 1999. *''Everyday Eclipses''. London: Viking, 2002. *''Collected Poems''. London: Viking, 2003; London: Penguin, 2004. *''Selected Poems''. London: Penguin, 2006. *''That Awkward Age''. London: Viking, 2009. *''As Far As I Know''. London: Viking, 2012. Fiction *''The Spotted Unicorn: The diaries of Chi Wen Tzu''. London: Viking, 1998. Non-fiction *''Said And Done'' (autobiography). London: Century, 2005. Juvenile *''Mr Noselighter'' (illustrated by André François). London: Whizzard, 1976. *''You Tell Me: Poems'' (illustrated by Michael Rosen). Harmondsworth, UK: Kestrel, 1979. *''The Great Smile Robbery'' (illustrated by Tony Blundell). Harmondsworth, UK: Kestrel, 1982; London & New York: Viking, 1982; Harmondsworth, UK: Puffin, 1984. *''Sky in the Pie'' (illustrated by Satoshi Kitamora). Harmondsworth, UK: Kestrel, 1983; London: Puffin, 1985. *''Crocodile Puddles'' (illustrated by Christine Hasucha). London: New Pyramid Press, 1984. *''The Stowaways'' (illustrated by Tony Blundell). London: Kestrel, 1986. *''Nailing the Shadow''. London: Viking Kestrel, 1987. *''Noah's Ark''. Dinosaur, 1986 **(illustrated by Liljana Rowlands). London: Collins, 1988. *''An Imaginary Menagerie'' (illustrated by Tony Blundell). London: Viking, 1988; London: Frances Lincoln, 2011. *''Counting by Numbers'' (illustrated by Markéta Prachatická). New York: Viking Kestrel, 1989. *''Helen Highwater: A Shropshire lass''. London: Viking Kestrel, 1989. *''Pillow Talk: A book of poems'' (illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia). London: Viking Kestrel, 1990; London: Puffin, 1992. *''The Oxford ABC Picture Dictionary'' (illustrated by Debi Gliori). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1990. *''The Lighthouse that Ran Away'' (illustrated by Rosemary Woods). London: Bodley Head, 1991. *''My Dad's a Fire-Eater'' (illustrated by Anthony Lewis). London: Puffin, 1992. *''The Oxford 123 Book of Number Rhymes'' (illustrated by Debi Gliori). Oxford, UK: Oxford Univesity Press, 1992. *''Another Custard Pie'' (illustrated by Adam Stower). London: Collins, 1993. *''Lucky: A book of poems'' (illustrated by Sally Kindberg). London: Viking, 1993. *''My Oxford ABC Picture Rhyme Book'' (illustrated by Debi Gliori). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1994. *''The Magic Fountain by H.R.H. Princess Gloriana'' (illustrated by Philip Hopman). London: Bodley Head, 1995 *''Stinkers Ahoy!'' London: Viking, 1995. *''The Kite and Caitlin'' (illustrated by John Prater). London: Bodley Head, 1996 *''Bad, Bad Cats'' (illustrated by Lydia Monk). London: Viking, 1997. *''Until I Met Dudley: How everyday things really work'' (illustrated by Chris Reddell). New York: Walker, 1997. *''What on Earth Can it Be?'' (illustrated by Lydia Ward). London: Puffin, 2002; New York: Little Simon, 2002. *''Good Enough to Eat'' (illustrated by Lydia Monks). London: Puffin, 2002 *''Moonthief'' (illustrated by Penny Dawn). London: Kingfisher, 2002; New York: Kingfisher, 2003. *''Oxford ABC and 123 Picture Rhyme Book'' (illustrated by Debi Gliori). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002. *''The Bee's Knees'' (illustrated by Helen Stephens). London: Puffin, 2003. *''All the Best: The selected poems of Roger McGough'' (illustrated by Lydia Monks). London: Puffin, 2004. *''Wicked Poems'' (illustrated by Neal Layton). London: Bloomsbury, 2004. *''The Monster's Guide to Choosing a Pet: Brilliant animal poems'' (with Brian Patten; illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees). London: Puffin, 2004. *''Dotty Inventions: And some real ones too'' (illustrated by Holly Swain). London: Frances Lincoln, 2004. *''The Sound Collector'' (illustrated by Kate Ashforth). Melbourne: Longman, 2005. *''Sensational!'' (illustrated by Sara Fanelli). London: Macmillan, 2005. *''Slapstick: Poems'' (illustrated by Adam Stower). London: Puffin, 2008. *''You Have Been Warned'' (illustrated by Chris Mould). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2008. Translated *Moliere, Tartuffe. London: Methuen, 2008. *Moliere, The Hypochondriac. London: Methuen, 2009. Edited *''Strictly Private: An anthology of poetry''. London: Kestrel, 1981. *''The Ring of Words: An anthology of poetry for children''. London: Faber, 1998. *''The Kingfisher Book of Comic Verse'' (illustrated by Caroline Holden). London: Kingfisher, 1986. *''100 Best Poems for Children'' (illustrated by Sheila Moxley). London: Puffin, 2002. *''Favourite Funny Stories'' (illustrated by Adam Stower). London: Kingfisher, 2003. *''More Funny Stories'' (illustrated by Adam Stower). London: Kingfisher, 2003. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Roger McGough, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 9, 2014. See also *List of British poets *Liverpool poets References External links ;Poems *Roger McGough at PoemHunter (16 poems) ;Audio/video * Roger McGough (b. 1937) profile and poems written and audio at The Poetry Archive * BBC Radio 4 archive 4 October 1981 (Audio, 12 minutes). *BBC profile and interview. *Roger McGough at YouTube ;About * * Roger McGough Official website. * [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/22/poetry-roger-mcgough James Campbell, "A life in poetry: Roger McGough", The Guardian, 22 August 2009] *Roger McGough Official website. * Interview with Roger McGough about 40 years of the Mersey Poets *Roger McGough on discovering poetry, his mother's influence, and envying The Beatles at The Telegraph, 2013 *"Roger McGough, The Popstar Poet (excerpt) ;Etc. * National Portrait gallery Category:People from Litherland Category:Alumni of the University of Hull Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:People associated with Loughborough University Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:Poets from Liverpool Category:Cholmondeley Award winners Category:People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby Category:20th-century poets Category:Children's poets Category:English children's writers Category:English-language poets Category:English poets Category:Poets